Music Trade Review

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THE: MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
whose methods have not been above suspicion. When all of this is
accomplished it will be better for the legitimate business interests
in every line. There, is in every trade, and banking is a trade, cer-
tain abuses which have crept in which should be eliminated and the
fllLflC TIRADE
quicker the better for all.
An important member of the piano industry remarked last week
that some housecleaning was necessary in this particular industry.
We have been housecleaning for some time and therefore at the
present
time there is not as much of an accumulation of unhealthy
EDWARD LYMAN BILL - Editor and Proprietor
germs
as
would have been found a few years ago. Business is run
J. B. SPILLANE, Managing Editor
on sounder lines and there is everywhere a desire to seek quality
Executive and Reportorlal Staff:
trade rather than quantity trade.
G » 0 . B . JTWT.T.1HT1,
W. H. DTKES,
F. H. THOMPSON.
J. HAYDEN CLARENDON.
A. J. NICKLIN.
L. S. BOWEBS,
A leading manufacturer said to The Review last week that he
B. BBITTAIN WILSON,
L. J. CHAMBERLIN,
BOSTON OFFICE:
CHICAGO OFFICE:
had concluded to shorten the time on which his pianos have been
B. P. VAN HARLINGKN. 105-197 Wabash Art.
BBNXST L. WAITT, 278A Tremont Bt
TELEPHONES : Central 414; Automatic 8645.
sold at wholesale. Of course if an unwise curtailment of time
PHILADELPHIA:
MINNEAPOLIS mmd ST. PAUL:
ST. LOUIS:
should be adopted generally it could end in no other way than in a
R. W. KAUJTMAN.
ADOLF EDBTBN.
CHAS. N. VAN BURBN.
SAN FRANCISCO: S. H. GHAT, 2407 Sacramento St.
great
reduction of trade. A judicious rearrangement of credit,
CINCINNATI, O.: NINA PUGH-SMITH.
wherever the time limit has exceeded good judgment, should be in
BALTIMORE. MO.: A. ROBERT FRENCH.
LONDON, ENGLAND:
69 Baslnghall S t , B. C. W. Lionel Sturdy, Manager.
order because some manufacturers in granting an jmusual length
Published Every Saturday at 1 Madison Avenue, New York of time to their dealers have helped to bring about an unhealthy
system o'f competition. To illustrate: If an alluring proposition
Entered at the Ntw York Post Offict ms Second Class Matter.
is held out to a particular dealer whose line is already full, to take
SUBSCRIPTION, (including postage). United States and Mexico, 92.00 per year;
Canada, $3.50 ; all other countries, $4.00.
on another piano with the understanding that he is to have a liberal
ADVERTISEMENTS, $2.00 per Inch, single column, per Insertion. On quarterly or
yearly contracts a special discount 1B allowed. Advertising Pages, $60.00; opposite
dating on his purchases far exceeding the regular credit, it becomes
reading matter, $75.00.
REMITTANCES, In other than currency form, should be made payable to Edward
at once an inducement for him to purchase. The dealer figures that
Lyman Bill.
if his bills do not fall due until a good many mo'nths have elapsed
Directory ol Plaao
The directory of piano manufacturing firms and corporation!
found on another page will be of great value, as a reference
he may under these conditions take on certain pianos to his line
MHuUttnrcri
f or dealers and others.
which otherwise he would not do. Then he is unwisely influ-
Exposition Honors Won by The Review
enced to put these same instruments out on ridiculously small
Grand Pria
Paris Exposition, 1900 Silver Medal. Charleston Exposition 1902
Diploma.Pan-American Exposition, 1901
GoldMedaI.. . S t Louis Exposition, 1904
monthly payments simply because he purchased them on such easy
Gold Medal. ... LewlB-Clark Exposition, 1905.
,
terms
that sound business principles were abrogated. Wherever
LONG DISTANCE TELEPHONES-NUMBERS 4677 and 4«78 GRAMERCY
Connecting all Department*.
too long time has been granted a readjustment should be in
Cable addreaw: "Elblll New York."
order. Pianos should be settled for within a reasonable period the
NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 8, l»O8
same as other merchandise and they should not be placed out by
retail merchants on terms which carry the deferred payments past
a period of three years. To go beyond that is to throw go'od busi-
ness prudence to the winds. Every dealer should figure to increase
EDITORIAL
the amount of his deferred payments on pianos. There is no sounder
principle to adopt during the new year. Then they should demand
RADE has been growing steadily better and the special Review larger deferred payments on every piano sale. If this plan were
reports indicate an improved condition in the various cities adopted generally and fixed business rules became the outcome of
throughout the Union. Of course there has not been a sudden such a policy the industry itself would be stronger and better. There
springing back to normal conditions, but there is an unmistakable is no better way to make housecleaning thorough than to adopt
trend towards better things. Men are constantly being put back to rules which mean a strengthening of the business structure and
work in the great industrial centers and every workman who is render it capable of standing any shock even of a sudden cyclonic
drawing wages is at once a distributing medium.
nature which it may encounter in days to come. Houseclean by all
Financial conditions are steadily improving but we are still means and let every business man put his house in the best kind of
having a little cleaning up in New York. The announcement last order. It will pay.
week that two of our local banks would not open their doors was
received by the public with indifference that at once testifies to the
SUBSCRIBER in writing to The Review asks among other
fact that the community has completely recovered from its financial
things, "Do" you believe all this nervous wear and tear inci-
scare, and is able to estimate such incidents at their true value.
dent to the piano business is worth the price we pay for it in worry
Housecleaning will not stop in New York until the last one of and shortened lives ?" It is a question for the individual to answer.
those great speculators who used banks as pawns in their great Some successful business men do not worry and they do not stick
gambling games are removed from power. Their names have too 1 close to their desks. There are some men, however, who are
tainted the reputation of the institutions with which they have been so constituted that they can't help fretting, and they are built on
connected. The kind of housecleaning which is going on here will such extremely nervous lines that they wear themselves out by un-
not cause the slightest disturbance and will leave the conservative necessary strain long before their time. The piano business is no
banking institutions stronger than ever. We may expect that after more wearing than any other, but we are in many cases paying too
the harvest comes the aftermath—after storm there is wreckage high a price for our commercial success.
and weakened edifices that must be strengthened or razed to the
There is a lesson and a warning for business men in the increase
ground.
of deaths from heart disease and nervous trouble. While the
The closing of the banks at this time is due to* a financial average duration of human life has been lengthened three or four
system which had not strengthened its forces and it was realized in years during the present generation, the number of deaths from
financial circles that the closing of these institutions was inevitable. heart disease in New York and other American cities is steadily
The collapse of these banks was due wholly to the fact that the con- increasing. This is admittedly due to the strain of modern living,
duct of those who were previously controlling them was not above and more than all, to the worry which exists among business men.
suspicion. Their suspension had been anticipated because in bank- The deaths from heart trouble have been accentuated during the
ing circles it was believed that the elimination of unsound banking past few months no doubt by the anxiety and strain caused by
methods must be complete. There is no fear that the depositors will recent monetary troubles. Heavy financial losses in so'me cases,
lose in the slightest, for these institutions will be quickly rehabili- in others worry over apprehended disasters that never occur, loss of
tated and placed on a sound footing.
appetite and sleeplessness and a general lowering of vitality have
rendered the subject an easy prey to any prevailing disease, and. if
T must be clear to the entire world that New York has begun the heart be weakened by improper living it gives way. Many a
this financial housecleaning proposition with a firm resolve not good man in the piano trade has gone down 'before his time be-
to stop until the financial structure is pretty well cleared of all men cause of lack of attention to the protection of health.
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